When she was able to once again get her bearing, Rose realized that she was in a body of water, a pond perhaps, with a gravely injured man, no James in sight.

By the time she was able to make sense of her surroundings, a beast of some kind charged forward and attacked the scraggly man. About 7 feet tall, with 2 big horns sprouting from its head, large whiskers, fangs and a huge tail, the beast looked like something out of the horror movies Mason made her watch back at the Academy.

"What to do now?" she contemplated.

Sure, the thing was enormous and scary, but she was a Guardian, one of the best there was. She couldn't just stand still and let the poor guy get mauled.

With a move her instructors would be proud of, she twisted and leaped from the water, landing on the beast's back. Instinct took over and she landed a bunch of punches to the thing's ears, having determined that they were a weak spot.

Recovering from the surprise attack, the beast tried to shake Rose off, but she wasn't ready to give up just yet. Tangling her legs across the beast's torso, she pulled at its hair with all her might and started pounding at his right ear.

Despite her precarious position, she kept on fighting to save the innocent man.

But the beast had had enough and with a clawed hand he grabbed Rose and shoved her into the freezing water. He pounced on her in the next second, grabbed her by the throat and released a bone-chilling roar.

Rose wasn't a stranger to frightening situations, but as she looked into the beast's eyes she realized that her life might be coming to an untimely end.

The thing had big, menacing eyes, of a dark green color. Green, like Lissa's. However, unlike her best friend's kind and serene expression, the beast had murder in its eyes. It was completely focused on her, promising retribution for being denied its prey. But as Rose continued to stare at it, the mindless aggression started to lessen. The animalistic fury was replaced by a cold intelligence, intense and calculating, almost as scary as the seemingly mindless anger. All of a sudden, she saw his hand lashing out at her and then there was nothing.


Bits of sound, a strange draft coming from somewhere above her and a cold unrelenting surface underneath her slightly bruised body. A strange combination she couldn't make any sense of.

"A girl in our castle. Mon Dieu! An actual girl. A girl, Cogsworth!" Said a heavily accented voice, presumably French.

"Let go of me, you animal! You are acting like you have never seen a girl in your life." Retorted a second voice, angry and a bit pompous, with a cultured British accent.

"Well, I don't know about you, but I haven't seen a girl in 10 years. I almost forgot what one looks like. And this one is so beautiful. Look at that hair. Do you think it feels like silk? And, oh, her eyes. Her eyes are…"

"Closed. She is sleeping, you imbecile," the British voice said with an increasing amount of annoyance.

"I know that she is sleeping, my grumpy old friend. But I am French. I can tell that a woman's eyes are beautiful even if they are closed." The French voice responded with good humor.

"Poppycock. Have you been eating glue again?"

"There's no need to insult me. I was simply stating a fact."

Rose slowly opened an eye, trying to get her bearings, only to be greeted by a cold, hard stone floor, no windows, and sturdy bars. She couldn't possibly be in a dungeon, could she? She tried to move a bit, so she could see who was talking.

"Bullocks. You are rambling, in your usual manner. No dignity, no grace."

Was that a clock talking? The pretentious British voice belonged to a clock?

A mantel clock from what she could tell. But a clock… talking? She must have really hit her head. Turning a bit, she saw that the clock seemed to berate a candelabra, which she assumed was that owner of the French-accented voice. There was a similar one in Lissa's quarters at the palace, but she never heard him talk. Or any other object for that matter. Where the hell was she?

"We should get her a nice blanket. The castle can be a bit chilly, especially in the dungeons," said the candelabra.

"Lumiere, the girl is a prisoner, not an esteemed guest. It is not our duty to make her comfortable," the clock started hopping from side to side, becoming increasingly agitated.

"My dear Cogsworth, the French…" The candelabra started again before he was brusquely interrupted.

"I do not care for your idiotic mumblings. Master has deposited her here, so here she will stay. Regardless of her eyes…"

"Opened."

"What?" asked the clock, confused.

"Her eyes are opened," said the candelabra with delight, hopping to the bars.

Shoot!

The talking candelabra (Lumiere?) caught her looking at them.

"My sweet mademoiselle, you have awakened. My name is Lumiere, the boutellier, at your service. This is my eternally indisposed friend Cogsworth, the butler and head of the household staff." Ignoring the withering stare Cogsworth sent his way, Lumiere touched the bars with a softly glowing candle and took a little bow.

"Is there anything we can get you? A cup of hot tea, a pillow, a magazine, maybe something sweet? My guess is that you have a sweet tooth," Lumiere winked and …

"Lumiere!" cried Cogsworth, outraged, approaching him.

"Oh, hello," said Rose tentatively and started to rise from the floor.

"Umm, I'm Rose. Nice to … meet you," she thought for a bit and went to the bars.

"I don't suppose you could let me go…" she tried her most alluring smile. The irony that the recipients were inanimate objects wasn't lost on her.

"Absolutely not! The audacity…" Cosgworth bristled, making his clock hands go haywire.

"Well, we could…" started Lumiere, staring into space with a musing smile on his face.

"No, we absolutely could not. The master would dismantle us!" Cogsworth put his hand on Lumiere's arm and spun him around. In the distance, the wind howled, creating an even chillier draft than before.

"Master?" asked Rose, close to losing her temper. "What master? Don't tell me that hideous beast runs this place. That would be…"

"The truth." The beast emerged from a dark corner, with a huge scowl on its face. Little did Rose know that beasts could scowl.

But hey, if objects could talk… Her mind supplied.

It then turned on its subjects.

"What are you doing here? I think I told you to stay away from the prisoner." It was next to the bars in the blink of an eye.

"Prisoner? Prisoner is such a harsh word," said Lumiere, a bit timidly.

"But that is exactly what she is!" the beast roared, turning to face Rose. "You willingly interfered with justice!"

"Justice?" yelled Rose, outraged. "You call that justice?! You were about to maul that poor guy, you animal!"

"That poor guy stole from me and then tried to escape his punishment." The Beast started to pace outside the bars.

"And what was the punishment, do tell. Evisceration?" Rose didn't want to show it, but she was scared, which in turn made her angry and just a tiny bit reckless.

The Beast stopped his pacing for a second, deep in thought. Outside, the wind grew impossibly fiercer.

"No, a prolonged stay in the dungeons. But because you were so eager to see him free, you will take his place," said the Beast, rounding on Rose once more.

"What?! You have got to be kidding me!" cried Rose and started banging on the bars.

"I do not kid," said the Beast solemnly, with the air of a man who was used to have his commands obeyed without question. "You will stay here and serve your time."

"But I'm not a…" Rose stopped banging on the bars and instead gripped them hard, changing tactics." For how long?"

"Indefinitely." The words carried such finality that she almost flinched. She tried to say something else, anything, but nothing came out. She just watched the Beast's robes billowing in the draft caused by its sudden departure.

"Indefinitely…" she whispered to herself.

"Mademoiselle Rose," said Lumiere tentatively. "Mademoiselle, the situation is not as dire as you may think. You don't actually have to stay in the dungeons."

"I am quite certain that she does."

Lumiere chose to ignore the indignant Cogsworth and outstretched a hand to Rose.

"We can move you to the Eastern wing, in one of the pastel bedrooms. I think that will work nicely."

He brusquely hopped to Cogsworth and said in a low, grave voice, unusual for the seemingly carefree candelabra:

"Mon ami, I know what the master commanded, but the truth is we're running out of time. She is the first girl we have seen here in ages. Maybe she could do the impossible. Sure, the master will be a little unsatisfied at first, but I am sure he will see to reason. He has just as much to lose as the rest of us. More so, even."

"See to reason." Huffed Cogsworth. "You're a damn fool, that's what you are."

"That doesn't make me wrong."

Cogsworth looked at his friend pleading look and seemed to have come to a conclusion. He wobbled back to the bars and retrieved an antique looking set of keys from a hidden compartment close the bars.

"Come on, Mademoiselle. It appears a change of scenery is in order. God help us all" the last part mumbled to himself in the same proper English that seemed part of his very being.


Author's Note

Hey guys!

Thanks so much for the reviews, follows and faves. I was so nice talking to you and discussing my first ever story.

I hope you like the second chapter. I love Lumiere and Cosgworth and their relationship, so the bickering was really fun to write, especially from Rose's POV.

There are many more surprises to come, so bear with me. :)